Trigun: Reflections
by Uyoku
Summary: It's been a long time since Vash dwelled upon the past on Gunsmoke, but now that things were back to normal, he and a small group head for a new city where unknown to them a darkness looms waiting to torture them for an unknown reason. Will it all be reso
1. Default Chapter

**Notes: **This story is in the process of being completed as I type this now. I have a few chapters, which really they are all stuck together as one long story, but seeing as how I am nearing 8,880, I need to break it up a bit. This is only in the crossovers section due to the sight of a few characters from another anime series or two. Don't be fooled by their appearance though, this story is centered on Trigun and Vash, despite the mentioned crossovers. The rating is for language and excessive violence later on along with a plot-twist you may catch onto in later chapters if you know the Trigun Manga...

**Trigun: Reflections**

"Hey Vash," Kaisa knocked gently on the wooden door before turning the handle a bit, opening it slowly to peer into the room of the inn. "Vash, are you—" She blinked and turned red in the face instantly, shutting the door quickly and leaning against it, too embarrassed to move. "Sorry!" she squeaked. This hadn't given the spiky-headed blonde a chance to even respond to what had happened. He just blinked for a second; having stopped patting the water out of his hair with the towel he had in hand. He had stopped completely as the door had opened and now finished with it, not putting it up as it always had been but threw on a shirt and walked out into the hall. Kaisa was still there, leaning against the wall with her eyes closed, still pink in the face. "Hey," he said with a smile looking at her. "Oh! Vash, uh…" He chuckled "Hey, now what's the matter with you this morning, huh? You aren't always this jittery." He grinned and hugged her gently. Across the hall Uyoku opened the door and just blinked at them "Do I dare even ask what is going on here…?" Kaisa blushed even more and Vash grinned slightly "Oh! Nothing to see here!" he seemed to hide her face and usher her into their room with a fast sweep and turn around, leaving Uyoku to blink at the closed door. "Ok then…" she said to the empty hallway.

Kaisa sat on the end of Vash's bed, looking rather embarrassed still. "Sorry to walk in on you," she said quietly, looking at her feet distractedly. "Hey don't worry about it. It's alright." Earlier in the day, Kaisa had gotten up before Vash had woken up to get some supplies in town, it was before many of them had woken up and she didn't want to disturb any of them. She thought she would have gotten back after he had gotten ready, she was truly embarrassed about it. Vash sat down next to her and put an arm around her with a soft chuckle. "I was wondering where you were going this morning so early. Is anything wrong?" Kaisa blinked; surprised that he had been awake at all. "No, nothing at all, I went to get supplies, and I didn't want to disturb you…" she blushed a bit again, thinking he looked rather cute when sleeping. "I went out to think too." Vash got up and slipped on his trademark red coat and then started to spike his hair with copious amounts of hair gel. Kaisa had always wondered how he got it to stay like that. "So, shall we be off? I'm sure the others are waiting on us." Vash had slipped on his orange tinted sunglasses and looked ready to take down any new threat they had for the day, his goofball-like nature still intact with the genuine smile he had. "Alright."

Kaisa followed Vash out of the room and shut the door. Outside Uyoku was leaning on a wall with her arms crossed and Setsuna and the others were looking at them oddly. "Good morning everyone," Vash said this in an almost too enthusiastic tone. "Took you two long enough, what were you doing in there anyway?" Vash looked rather innocent and his more goofball side showed "Who us?" at Uyoku's glare he grinned and put his hand on the back of his head to laugh a bit "It was nothing at all, honest!" Uyoku shook her head gently "Right…" Vash laughed loudly and Kaisa shook her head gently, a little embarrassed at the whole scene, knowing it had been her fault to cause Uyoku to wonder anyway. "Well anyway pin-head, let's go already. We've got to catch the bus to Kasted City…" Vash looked a little disheartened "Boy she sure is grumpy in the morning isn't she?" Kaisa grinned and Milly came following them from the room that Meryl and she had shared during the night. "Oh, are we leaving already?" From inside the room you could hear Meryl's tension as she gathered up all of their things. "Let's go Milly, we don't want to be late again, our jobs are on the line here!" Vash looked rather whiney suddenly "Awe man, but I thought it was all over with… Gee you two are persistent…" Milly smiled wide. "Of course Mr. Vash! It's our job to make sure you don't get in trouble, plus Meryl doesn't want you to run off again like last time!" Meryl turned pale in the face "Milly!" Milly just made a small noise and continued smiling wide, carrying their things out front into the rather empty main street of the town.

"Get a move on you guys the bus is leaving without you!" Uyoku called at them all from the door of the bus which had already begun rolling. "Ayah!!!" Vash yelled aloud, grabbing Kaisa, running to catch up with the bus. "Hey wait don't leave us here, stop the bus!" Meryl blinks and starts chasing after them. "HEY you can't leave us here you idiot! Milly come on!!!" Milly smiles widely, "Right Meryl!" starting to run after Meryl, Vash and Kaisa and the bus. "Ayah ya ya ya!" Vash said, looking exhausted, catching up to the bus and holding onto the side of it, running with it, but having to jump over small boulders. Meryl had a hold of his trench coat in the back and Milly had a grip on Meryl's cape. "Get on the bus you stupid moron!" Meryl fumed at him. "Well it's kind of hard when you have someone hanging on your coat you know!"

He finally gets on the bus with a shove and attempted kick by Meryl. Vash falls flat on his face and Meryl gets on, kicking him to the side a bit stomping past and taking a seat. "Oh you are _such_ an idiot sometimes Vash!" Vash had a large red mark on his chin where he had hit the floor of the bus hard and had small little grate lines in his chin. "That's all you can say after you nearly choked me to death?" Meryl crosses her arms. "If it wasn't for you we wouldn't be in this mess in the first place. Humph!" Kaisa offered her arm to Vash helping him up with much difficulty; they sat down behind Setsuna and Uyoku. "Thanks a lot, you're so kind!" he said it rather loudly, behind him Meryl fumed and Milly just kept on smiling. Kaisa couldn't help but giggle and she got a look from Meryl, Setsuna and Uyoku which made her cheeks flush.

"So tell me again why we're going to Kasted City, Vash?" Meryl had poked her head around the seat to talk to him. "Well, it's nothing really, but I want to go see an old friend there. I know it's out of the way, but it's been awhile since I came through here. Besides, I know she'll be happy to see me again." Kaisa turned around a bit and smiled. "A girl huh," Meryl crossed her arms and looked a bit cross. "Another one of your passing fancies, Vash?" Uyoku grinned, and of course was just teasing him. She knew well and good, no matter how much he might have flirted in the past, Vash was too self conscious to be _too_ flirty with many girls. "Aw, come on now you two, it's just a nice girl who helped me out for awhile that's all." Kaisa leaned on Vash gently, looking out of the window of the bus still, though there was nothing to see but sand and the two suns of the arid planet, it was still peaceful to look at the rolling dunes of sand. "Yeah sure…" Meryl smiled to herself and settled back down into the seat. She couldn't help but tease Vash as much as she did about all the past girls he had met. She was a little hurt, about not telling him how she felt before he vanished for so long. It didn't help matters that she wanted to tell him still today, but couldn't because she knew how Kaisa and he had been together since he had finally resurfaced again.

'I still wonder what happened during all that time he was gone…' she thought to herself, closing her eyes and rubbing her head gently as the bus hit a few bumps, jarring the passengers around in their seats. "Something wrong Meryl?" Milly smiled and tilted her head at Meryl who blinked. "Oh, nope, nothing wrong, just thinking about things is all…" she said it quietly, trying not to betray her true thoughts to anyone around them wondering about how she was acting. "So what's this city like we're headed to?" Setsuna had turned around a bit in the seat; Uyoku was giving him a dirty look for having nearly crushed her leg with his hand in the process. "It's a nice and quiet town; at least it was after I took out the bandit problem. I wonder if it's changed any…" Vash got a thoughtful look on his face and appeared to have fallen into his own thoughts at the moment, not paying much attention to anyone anymore.

Kaisa pulled out a small notebook that looked more like a journal and began to write in it. It was dirty and looked like it was pretty old, but due to traveling so much it had gotten much wear on it in the past months. "Oh look, we're almost there!" Milly had said this quite loudly and Kaisa had jumped, dropping the journal onto the floor of the bus. She squeaked in alarm and dove down under the seat to find it, it had skidded up about a foot in front of her and as she nearly reached it with her fingertips Setsuna reached down and plucked it up easily with a grin. "Drop something important here Kaisa?" He grinned in this mischievous way that knew this wasn't going to end well. She looked a bit flustered and just as he opened the book he got smacked in the back of the head and it fell forward into her lap, open to a section from a long time ago. She quickly blushed, noticing which entry it was, and closed it with a loud snap, pushing it back into her back, deep down into it where no one would be tempted to grab it. "You are so insensitive Setsuna! Don't you know not to be nosey you ass?" Uyoku huffed lightly and crossed her arms, looking rather frustrated about something, unknown to the rest of what it was though.

Vash had snapped out of his deep thoughts and looked around. "Oh wow we're here already? That was fast!" He jumped up quickly; hitting his head on the overhead bar used to hold onto if the bus was rather full, he fell back into his seat in a slight heap. "Eack!" Meryl shakes her head. "That's why you wait until the bus stops before you go running around Vash…" He got up again and walked off of the bus trying to look dignified and as though the run in with the pole hadn't happened. Kaisa followed him sheepishly and Setsuna grinned at her again, Uyoku gave him a glare that could freeze someone's insides and he quickly looked away as if distracted by something else. "So where do we go now that we're here?" Kaisa asked quietly, looking around the small and quiet main street. "Well, if anyone needs me I'll be in here…" Setsuna pointed at a saloon across the street, heading for it without a glance back at the others he was gone inside of its swinging doors. "Hey! I remember that place, and it looks like they've finally fixed that hole up, well mostly." Vash laughed and put an arm around Kaisa's shoulders. "C'mon Kaisa, I want you to meet someone." Kaisa nodded and without a word Vash ushered them away. Meryl and Milly shrugged heading for the saloon with Uyoku.


	2. Chapter II

**Trigun: Reflections**

Chapter 2

"Her name's Lina, I stayed with her for a while after…" Vash's voice trailed off; apparently it wasn't something he wanted to talk about Kaisa thought to herself, so she let it go without another word. "Wow, gee I hope some of the town's people aren't too angry with me still…" Vash had an innocent smile on his face as they headed for Lina's house. "Angry with you," Kaisa asked in an innocent tone, she knew he wasn't popular around these parts. "Well, when I left they weren't too happy to find out I was really 'The Humanoid Typhoon' instead of Ericks you know?" He laughed and looked rather joyous, looking around at all of the sights. "Oh hey look there, that's the hospital I'd always end up at, at least once a week, for something I'd done, and there's the hideout of that ugly pig faced bandit. Boy, the whole town thought he was me, he even kidnapped Lina…"

Kaisa smiles and listens, not really speaking much, looking at the area where a large house looked as it had once stood, rubble was still all around the area, apparently no one was eager to fix the property up too fast. "It certainly looks like your handy work Mister Act of God." Kaisa crossed her arms, tilting her head teasingly at Vash with a giggle. "Awe, c'mon don't call me that. It's not like I started it all…" Kaisa giggled again. "Oh Vash… I'm just teasing you…" Vash grinned and ruffled her hair a bit, hugging her tightly and lifting her up to sit on his shoulder, carrying her. He smiled up at her, "and I was teasing you too." He stuck his tongue out and marched onward toward a small house on the opposite side of the main road.

Vash set Kaisa back onto her feet as they reached the shaded porch. Vash walked up the steps slowly. His heavy boots were rather loud on the wood. He knocked gently on the wooden door and Kaisa stood to the side and a bit behind him, a little nervous. "Hello, anyone home?" Vash called and smiled widely as the door opened slowly. It was Lina's grandmother. "Oh my," She exclaimed, she looked relatively older than she had when Vash had left that town. "Well hey there grandma. Is Lina home? I sure would like to see her after all this time." Vash continued to hold that genuinely sweet and kind smile he had always had, Kaisa felt rather invisible. "Oh Ericks, we've been so worried about you, and I see you've brought a friend with you." Kaisa blushes a little as Vash turned around, pulling Kaisa to his side with a proud smile. "This is Kaisa. So, is Lina around nearby by chance?" Vash seemed almost electric as Lina's grandmother explained she was down in the market. 'He seems so eager. Lina must have meant a lot to him…' Kaisa thought to herself as she was half dragged off of the porch before she could right herself. She waves goodbye "Nice to meet you!" she called to Lina's grandmother as she was dragged down the road, back the way they had come from, heading for the small area of shops in the town.

Meryl groans as she catches the sight of Vash half dragging Kaisa past the saloon that they had just entered only minutes ago. "Now where is that broom-headed moron dragging her off to?" She mutters and turns back to her drink with a disgruntled look. "What's with you?" Uyoku asked her with a look on her face, she'd never seen someone so high strung before in her life. "It's our job to make sure that moron doesn't cause trouble, you know he always does wherever he goes…" She sighed and took a large gulp from her drink. "Milly, you know you shouldn't drink so much!" Milly fell over against Meryl, her eyes blazed with annoyance. "No more alcohol for you…" she muttered. "Sure thing M-Meryl…" her words trailed off in a drunken slur and she fell onto the table a bit. Meryl groans again. "Setsuna, what are you looking at?" Uyoku had stopped staring at Meryl to look at Setsuna who was watching someone at the bar who had long white flowing hair and a large white suitcase leaning against the bar. "Who is _that_?" Uyoku mutters with a look. "She's very… interesting…"

"A glass of wine…" the figure spoke quietly, holding out the payment for the drink. Setsuna just seemed to gape at her in a way of confusion and interest. Uyoku elbowed him, making him cough and look at her in a venomous glare. He wasn't the only one staring, many of the patrons in the saloon had mixed looks of interest and somewhat questioning in others. The pale and attractive female's eyes glanced in their direction, the gaze chilled Uyoku's blood instantly. The eyes were icy blue and cruel when they gazed over, but regained a normality to them when she turned back to take a long draft of her wine. Uyoku shivered slightly and closed her eyes, thinking to herself. That gaze was violent, and not anything any woman she knew could pull off. Setsuna suddenly fell out of his chair coughing and spattering, trying to get up again with a horrified look on his face. "What in the hell is the matter with you?" Uyoku growled at him. "It's… it's nothing…" Uyoku knew this was a lie instantly, but let it slide, going back to her thinking in silence.

Vash continued to hurry along the street and stopped so suddenly that Kaisa ran into the back of him and fell down with an audible 'ouch'. He picked her up carefully. "You ok? Sorry about that…" he looked a bit sheepish and looked down the street he had stopped in front of. Kaisa stood next to him and glanced down it as well. He got a look on his face and seemed to be staring at a girl with short hair, heading their way with some bags in her arms. The girl stopped, catching sight of them and just stared motionless for a long moment. Suddenly the bags dropped and she ran over nearly knocking Vash over in a hug. "Ericks!" Vash laughed a bit and hugged Lina gently back. "Hey there Lina," Vash was at a slight lack of words as Lina sounded like she was crying, but when she finally pulled away from him she was smiling and laughing. "I was wondering when you'd be back…" Kaisa had that overwhelming awkward feeling all over again. She just stood to the side quietly watching, not wanting to interrupt their reunion. "Oh! Are you here with Ericks?" Lina suddenly asked Kaisa, who blinked and looked a little flustered, she had been thinking again and not been paying too much attention. "Oh… Yeah, I'm Kaisa…" "It's nice to meet you. Have you been getting her into trouble too Ericks?" Lina gave Vash a bit of a playful hit and a grin. 'Wow, she sure has grown up a bit.' Vash thought to himself. "Well come on you two, I've got to go take these back home; you're welcome to stay there while you're in town." Lina said and started walking down the street. Vash, without a word, followed, grinning widely all the while. 'But what about the others…' Kaisa's thoughts trailed off as she followed them a moment later.

In the saloon, the eyes didn't cease to be on that image of unique beauty. Setsuna had fallen silent and looked rather disturbed in his out-of-focus state. Uyoku took a long draft of her tea, setting the glass down before realizing her eyes had been focused on the stranger that everyone seemed interested in. She got a strange aura from the woman, but wasn't sure what it was. Just as she was beginning to wonder, the woman rose and turned from her seat; for a moment their eyes met directly. The look was cold, and time seemed to stand still in that moment. Uyoku suddenly realized what had happened to Setsuna earlier, she also knew that today was going to be more than interesting. The woman left, carrying the huge, six foot long white suitcase in her grasp, leaving the bar and the ogling onlookers in her wake. Uyoku shivered and shook the feeling off, but she too now looked concerned, but unlike Setsuna, hid it better than he did. She picked up her teacup in her hands, staring at the remains of it, almost a half a cup there, and then she downed it all in one shot, making a bit of a face before setting the empty cup down on the table again, and rising from her seat. "Let's go, we should go see if Vash and Kaisa are alright…" she spoke quietly to the others. The rest looked at her suddenness, blinking and getting up quickly, leaving behind the amount for their drinks before following her into the bright sunlit and dusty road out front.


	3. Chapter III

**Trigun: Reflections**

Chapter 3

"Grandma, I'm home! I brought Ericks with me!" Lina opened the door of her house, Vash behind her carrying the bags she had dropped in the road at the market, Kaisa behind him, holding her hat in her hands nervously. "Oh, welcome home dear. Oh Ericks, I see you found Lina. Well then come in and sit down. How have your travels been Ericks?" Vash set the bags down on the table nearby and went to sit down, leaning forward on the table. "Well, you know me, lots of trouble and excitement." Kaisa noticed the slight change in Vash's eyes as he said these words. The change showed his reflections on the past events, with Knives, the rest of the Gung Ho Guns, and all of the misfortune, or strange adventures he had been dragged into. Kaisa hadn't sat down yet, and she looked nervous as she spoke up. "Uh… I… should probably go find the others to let them know where we are…" she turned and started to head out of the door. "Alright dear, hurry back." Kaisa nodded and left quickly without another word. She shook her head as she went. 'What are you thinking? I shouldn't be so nervous or feel awkward around Lina and Vash but…' she let her thoughts trail off as she started to jog down the road, heading for the Saloon where the others had been.

Uyoku walked down toward the original direction Vash and Kaisa had gone, dodging people with ease as she went, not even paying attention to her surroundings as she thought about that woman again. "Hey look, isn't that Kaisa?" Meryl said, pointing ahead of them at the Pokémon trainer jogging toward them, looking red in the cheeks. "Mm, so it is…" Uyoku commented, looking up finally just as Kaisa reached them. "Is everything ok?" Meryl asked her, before putting her hands on her hips looking quite agitated. "Did that spike-headed moron get you two into trouble again?" She had said this before Kaisa could answer; Kaisa looked even more flustered and snapped back a reply. "No!" she squeaked and looked down at her feet. "I mean—I'm sorry. I just came to tell you all where we're at, that's all. I'll show you the way, Lina offered to let us… err… Vash and I, stay with her and her grandmother." Kaisa's cheeks were red in embarrassment, and she turned, walking rather fast back to where she had come from. "C'mon, follow me, I'll show you exactly where it is."

Ten minutes later they arrived at Lina's house. Kaisa knocked and walked in looking around slowly. "Hello? I brought everyone else with me…" Kaisa stepped into the small living room area where everyone was sitting. Vash was in the middle of a ramble about one of his stories, obviously one of the ones they had been on in another world, but she wasn't sure which one he was telling. "Oh Hello!" he called as Meryl, Milly, Uyoku and Setsuna all walked into the room. "Hello! Are you friends of Ericks?" Meryl looks a little confused and Kaisa nods, interrupting her before she can ask who Ericks was. "Yeah, this is Meryl Strife, Milly Thompson, Uyoku Nowashi and Setsuna Mudo." Before Kaisa can finish her explanations and ask if they can also stay, Lina pipes up. "Oh great!" she says excitedly, "You can all stay here tonight. It may not be very roomy, but at least it's a nice place for free." Lina smiles and looks more than happy to have them all, even though Uyoku, Setsuna and Kaisa didn't look like they were from anywhere around here at all, they were friends of Vash and that was good enough for her. Meryl smiles warmly "Well thank you very much. I hope we won't be too much trouble for you." Uyoku rolls her eyes slightly, knowing exactly what Meryl was thinking, as if what she thought ever changed, but then again she did hide some of her feelings from the others, using her outbursts at Vash to cover them up less-than perfectly. They all settled down to listen to Vash continue about his stories, and piped in when they could, Meryl and Milly nodded and listened, adding their own opinions on things when needed, and as the night progressed onward they all seemed to get along great.

But something was not right, Uyoku felt that, and she could also tell someone else was feeling uneasy besides herself. She never said anything, but something about things was eating at her mind. She listened intently to everything, but caught herself thinking back on the saloon and that woman once more. She sighed quietly and got up, moving outside to stand on the front porch and stare up at the two brilliant moons in the sky above. Setsuna had followed her out a few moments later. One of the boards on the porch made a slight creaking noise and Uyoku turned to face him when he came out. "Setsuna… You saw that.... woman… today as I did…" Setsuna shudders slightly "Don't…" Uyoku nods and turns back to the moons, her wings draping outward as she sighs heavily, she had kept them hidden all day due to so many people, who may not have ever seen anything like her around. "Something keeps haunting my mind. I'm not quite sure what it is… And, besides that, have you noticed how odd Kaisa's been acting today? Ever since we got here and Vash met up with Lina, she's been very…" Setsuna finishes her sentence for her; "Uneasy and awkward? Yeah, I've noticed, and Meryl…" They both laugh out loud and lean on the railings of the porch. "We live in such a soap opera…" Uyoku chuckles and grins "Indeed…" Setsuna scowls and they both laugh again. The thoughts of the day slowly faded from their minds, at least for the time being.

Later that night in the silence of the cool night air, a distant gunshot rang out in the darkness. No one at this hour would have paid much attention, but in the small house where Meryl, Milly, Kaisa, Vash, Uyoku and Setsuna stayed, one person did hear it. Kaisa jumped at the noise. She was lying wide awake next to Vash, who was snoring lightly and drooling a bit. She was only pretending to sleep, the truth was, that she couldn't. She silently wondered what the strange gunshot was, and who had fired it off this late at night. Kaisa checked her watch, in her own world it would be close to dawn, but here it was only a little after midnight. Kaisa closed her eyes and attempted to sleep again, she had been trying for hours, but only managed a light sleep, having horrible nightmares of being turned into some horrible creature again. She shuddered and suddenly jumped at a noise coming from the window. She opened her eyes and looked, it was open. She thought it may have just blown open but there was no wind.

She looked around and when she turned around she gasped loudly before clutching her mouth shut. In the dark corner of the room only feet away was the hauntingly beautiful woman from the saloon that the others had seen. In her face was a cold look, she brandished her large white suitcase. Kaisa glanced at it, and saw a long lethal spike pointing out of it, glinting a little in the moonlight. She opened her mouth to yell to wake someone up, but the woman motioned for silence, which she quickly obeyed, having the sharp spike pointed directly at her neck. "Tell anyone I was here and I will kill you without hesitation… Or maybe I should anyway, for being a nosey little bitch." Kaisa's eyes narrowed and she looked rather offended at the remark. "Humph. Just remember you little brat; I'm watching you…" With that the woman passes Kaisa and vanishes into the night silently. Her words rang in Kaisa's head, and as she turned slowly back to the bed to lie down and sleep again, a bit of fear welled up in her. _I'm watching you… _Kaisa laid down and fell into a restless sleep filled with dreams and nightmares of being hunted by that woman, her words constantly echoing in her mind as she slept, making the fear slowly grow as the night continued and turned into the early morning light.


	4. Chapter IV

**Trigun: Reflections**

Chapter 4

The next morning Kaisa is woken up by a loud yawn from Vash; she sits up and looks around with nervousness and tiredness all in one. "Good morning! Sleep well? Oh… guess not, you look awful." Vash starts to laugh but then stops when he sees Kaisa doesn't find it funny at all. "Hey, I'm only teasing, you know that." He puts his arm around her shoulders and tilts his head. "What's wrong?" Kaisa shakes her head and rubs her eyes "N-nothing, I just didn't sleep well that's all… Nightmares…" Kaisa had had nightmares all night, but this time they were mixed of her usual ones and now with this woman. Instead of no one coming to save her from being turned into a horrible monster, the woman shows up and shoots her with that long and lethal spike. She'd had the dream at least three times during the night. She shivered at the memory of it. Suddenly there was a soft knock at the door and Kaisa twitched. "Ericks, Kaisa, Breakfast is ready!" Lina called through the door. Vash didn't seem to notice how she had jerked at the knock and nearly knocked down the door trying to get out. Kaisa got up and sighed, brushing her hair and making sure she looked decent before going into the other room for breakfast.

"Morning sleepy head," Uyoku says quietly looking at Kaisa as she comes out to the dining area yawning. Kaisa gives her a tired and bland look, Uyoku chuckles quietly. "Or perhaps not…" Kaisa sits down silently and helps herself to a piece of toast, beginning to literally nibble at it. She leaned on the table quietly and then jumped up, remembering she had to feed her pokémon. "Oh! I've got to go do something that I forgot, I'll be right back!" she got up before anyone could say anything and went into the bedroom she and Vash had shared, shutting and locking the door behind her. She pulled out her pokéballs and released her Mewtwo, Gengar, Charizard, Lapras, Dragonair, Ditto and Latios. She pulled out a huge bowl and a bag of pokémon food, pouring it all into the bowl. Then she set aside a few smaller bowls with a few more things in them, for a little variety. "I'll be back you guys… Just try and be quiet and…" she looked at the window with a nervous look. What is it? Mewtwo asked her in his psychic voice. Kaisa keeps staring at the window for a second then shakes her head. "Oh, it's nothing, don't worry about it." She smiled and hugged them each one by one before unlocking the door and going back out to breakfast. She smiled back at mewtwo and motioned for him to lock it after she left, so no one would walk in on them. "There… Sorry about that… I had to check on something." Kaisa felt very uneasy and a bit sick to her stomach at the thought of that disturbing woman watching her. She was afraid to say or do anything that might invite her to kill her without a good reason, she had a feeling she wouldn't hesitate in the slightest bit to do just that, a valid reason or not.

After breakfast and sitting around for awhile, Lina came into the room with a wide smile on her face. "So, are you two ready to go?" The group looks up at her in confusion. "Who us"? Vash looks around and points to himself and Kaisa with a purely idiotic grin on his face. Kaisa giggled quietly, she had been silent all morning since last night's events. She wanted to tell someone about what had happened, but she wasn't quite sure what the woman had wanted in the first place, other than she was there, in Kaisa and Vash's bedroom at a very late hour. "Of course you Ericks, I wanted to show you something in town today." Meryl crosses her arms with a stern look. "Don't you think we should come along to? Who knows what _he_ is bound to get you into." Uyoku rolls her eyes as Lina laughs a bit. "Oh don't worry about them Meryl, Kaisa's good at making sure they don't get into _too much_ trouble…" Uyoku grins, just teasing, but Kaisa didn't seem too amused by it, she gave a half-hearted laugh and got up, stretching. "So what do you want to show us Lina?" She asks, avoiding the subject of what was bothering her.

Setsuna raises a brow at Uyoku who nods slightly and both of them get up. "Where are you two going?" Meryl asks in a stern tone, giving them both one of her agitated looks. "Gee Meryl; can't you back off a bit? You know she can be really bitchy…" Vash says this with an utterly innocent look, and gets a vicious look from Meryl and laughter from Setsuna, Uyoku, Lina and Kaisa. Milly chuckles quietly and just smiles widely, her overly happy nature never wavering. "Oh! You pin-headed moron! Humph!" Meryl crosses her arms and turns away, looking rather agitated. "Well let's go!" Lina says before hopping up and walking out the door rather fast. Kaisa squeaks in surprise from the suddenness and follows, Vash right behind her with his goofy happy-go-lucky smile. Setsuna and Uyoku follow them, but start walking down the road toward the saloon.

"You know things haven't changed all that much since you were here Ericks, though y'know that building the gang was using to terrorize us all from back then? They never rebuilt it, I guess they figured it would be too welcoming for another group of bandits to find all-too-convenient to use for another hide out." Lina shrugs as they continue to walk out toward the outskirts of the town. "Well now that's a shame, it could have made a nice bar, or entertainment club…" Vash gets a goofy look on his face at the thought and both Lina and Kaisa glare at him, Lina gives him a firm smack for the comment. "Ericks! Now I see why Meryl is so uptight about you… You _are_ a troublemaker aren't you?" Lina laughs and Vash rubs his cheek where he was slapped. "Oh, c'mon, she's just too high strung and I'm just teasing ya, you know that?" Kaisa hugs Vash tightly and giggles. Her mood was improving as they continued to walk, finally reaching the outskirts of the town. "You're so silly…" Kaisa giggles and looks at the demolished building. "Wow you did this? I guess this is why they—" She stops, realizing what she almost had done, revealing that he was really Vash the Stampede. She didn't know if Lina or anyone in this town knew, but she was always careful before bringing out his nickname.

"Well here we are! All that's left of that old building is ruins. Not even a single room stands still, just a few crumbling walls. Go ahead and look around if you want, not much out here aside from little desert creatures, nothing that'll hurt ya too bad if they bit ya." Lina smiled and Kaisa gulped, _and psychopathic-trigger-happy-stalking-lunatics_, Kaisa added to Lina's statement mentally. Kaisa tried to stick near Vash, but she was curious about the area, so she went to investigate only one of the standing walls left, which was full of bullet holes. She peered through a few. _Wow… he did all this alone…?_ Kaisa was in awe of the sight, she didn't know Vash was so destructive, but she also didn't know the whole story, that someone else had been with him the day he'd saved Lina. If anything, most of these bullet holes were from Nicholas D. Wolfwood, who had been his accomplice in the rescue mission. Kaisa also didn't know that she had also seen the weapon Wolfwood had used, but the story was never brought up in full detail. Kaisa walked behind the large wall piece and leaned against the cool mud-stone in the shade of it. She sighed and closed her eyes for a moment, but suddenly opened them again as she thought she heard the sound of a gun being cocked. She looked around, quivering slightly. "Just being paranoid…" she said, reassuring herself. "Oh you really think so?" said a cold quiet voice that turned Kaisa's blood like ice and her skin pale and white


End file.
